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Stepping Stone Spouse
- 87 statements
- 15 feature instances
- 12 referencing feature instances
| Stepping Stone Spouse | type |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse | comment |
The nuptials say "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health" but sometimes, things don't quite work out that way. Partner A and Partner B struggle together through unemployment, bankruptcy, a medical crisis, or just the general growing pains of a newly married couple, relying on each other to survive. They are confident that they just need to hold on and then they'll be able to enjoy their Happily Ever After together. But once the crisis has passed and they reach the point where they should be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, Partner B leaves their spouse for someone else. For this trope to be in play, the couple has to have experienced some type of difficulty with one partner noticeably bearing more of the load than the other with the belief that it's their duty as a spouse. The benefiting partner must then leave the relationship once the hardship lifts and establish a new relationship with a higher quality of living that is only possible because of the sacrifice of their previous partner. Stepping Stone Spouses can result from a variety of situations such as: Partner A works to put Partner B through college or specialty training (doctor, lawyer, etc.) only for Partner B to leave once they get a successful job with the education/training. Partner A and B live extremely frugally and work multiple jobs to pay off a financially crippling debt that partner B accrued. Partner B gets a financial windfall and leaves for a better life with a new partner. Partner B is ill and Partner A does everything they can to help Partner B recover. Once Partner B is healthy they leave Partner A for someone else. Double dagger if Partner A donated an organ in order for Partner B to recover. While it is possible for the partners to split amicably, it's usually portrayed in media as the beginning of a revenge story. Partner A (usually female) may feel used and betrayed by this state of affairs, and Partner B (usually but not always male) is likely to be portrayed as a Jerkass who never truly cared about Partner A. If Partner A is Not Good with Rejection, they may become some variety of Woman Scorned. In extreme cases, things might turn deadly for Partner B and/or their new spouse. If the partners can come to a mutual agreement and understanding, on the other hand, it might instead become I Want My Beloved to Be Happy. Sub-Trope of Starter Marriage, Sister Trope of All Take and No Give. As various true-crime programs can attest, this does happen in real life but No Real Life Examples, Please!. Examples |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_1e7ca85f | type |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_1e7ca85f | comment |
Hercules: Megara literally sold her soul to Hades in order to save her boyfriend's life only for him to immediately dump her for another woman shortly after being revived. This leaves Megara trapped for eternity in Hades' servitude while the boyfriend enjoys his second shot at life with his new lover. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_35f162a2 | comment |
She-Devil: Ruth Patchet acts as a stay-at-home mother for her high-powered accountant husband Bob, maintaining the home and children while he focuses on his career. The fact that she's supposed to be unattractive allows Bob to treat her less like a partner and more like a servant, ultimately throwing it in her face that he can rely on her to be waiting for him when he begins to cheat on her with a celebrity client. After Bob leaves Ruth for Mary, his rich celebrity client, the film's comedy draws from Ruth making him pay for this by systematically dismantling every part of his life that he only has because of her efforts. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_59140854 | type |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_59140854 | comment |
Jessica Jones (2015): Jeri Hogarth leaned heavily on the financial support of her wife Wendy while going through law school. As she advanced in her career, Jeri focused much more on work than on Wendy. After making partner at her law firm, she started having affairs with other, younger women. This leads to a messy divorce and Wendy being manipulated by Kilgrave (after Jeri foolishly tried to use Kilgrave's Compelling Voice to get Wendy to drop her legal proceedings) into attempting to do literally to Jeri what Jeri did to her emotionally: Death of a Thousand Cuts. | |
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Dirty John: Season 2 of this true crime series features the story of Betty Broderick, who murdered her ex-husband Daniel T. Broderick III and his new wife Linda. Having been the sole provider for their family of five for years while Dan attended both medical and law school, Betty felt betrayed and cheated when he divorced her and remarried shortly after landing a highly lucrative partnership. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_7ff1606c | comment |
In Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Zeon Zum Deikun married a woman named Roselucia, who supported him emotionally and financially since his days as a street activist. He later left her because he wanted children and she couldn't provide them, but he never actually stopped being married to her. This winds up being a problem for his children by his mistress Astraea, since he never actually married their mother and after his death Roselucia takes advantage of the situation to get revenge on Astraea by separating her from her children and effectively putting her under house arrest. | |
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Teresa, Jordan's first wife from The Wolf of Wall Street, sticks with him through a lot, encouraging him as he tries to build a career in the cutthroat world of stockbroking, and standing by him even after he loses his job on Black Monday. When he strikes it rich, he repays her support and kindness by screwing around behind her back with prostitutes and a long-term mistress and then dumping her for said mistress after she finds them together. While Teresa basically vanishes from the narrative after that, this is one of the first major signals that Jordan is a Villain Protagonist. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_84bbf8df | comment |
Death on the Nile: Subverted. Jacqueline introduces Simon to her old school friend Linnet as needing a job, she puts him in charge of her estate... and marries him soon after. Jacqueline follows them on their honeymoon, culminating in her apparently murdering Linnet, but it's quickly established she was elsewhere at the time of the murder. Jacqueline and Simon were in on it from the beginning, intending for Simon to inherit Linnet's fortune and remarry elsewhere. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_9fd7ad0a | comment |
"(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" by Paul Revere and the Raiders (later recorded by The Monkees) is about a rising star accusing his girlfriend of using him to boost her status so that she can then leave him for someone more impressive. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_ad756db2 | comment |
Diary of a Mad Black Woman: Charles and Helen marry right out of high school. She supports him as he goes through college, law school, and then works his way up the ladder at a law firm. However, Helen later discovers that with his success came adultery, and Charles has a mistress with whom he has two children. When Helen confronts Charles, he kicks her out of their home and starts the proceedings for a divorce. As Laser-Guided Karma, Charles is shot by a disgruntled client and paralyzed. Brenda, his mistress, immediately tries to take him off life support, and he is only saved by Helen, his legal wife, asking the hospital to maintain care. Brenda cleans out his bank accounts and absconds with their two boys, leaving Charles broke, crippled, and alone. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_b0fc9724 | comment |
Saturday Night Live: In the "Meet Your Second Wife" sketch, the first contestant is incredulous that he would remarry in the future to a girl who is only in 7th grade at the moment, crediting his wife with supporting him while he writes his novel. When the game show hosts explain that one of his future novels will be a bestseller that gets optioned for a movie, he admits that he now understands why he'll leave her for a much younger woman. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_ba01087e | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_ba01087e | comment |
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: Subverted. Alistair Blunt married his first wife, Gerda, before marrying his second wife Rebecca Arnholt whose family fortune helped finance his rise to power. Not only has Blunt remained with Gerda throughout his marriage to Rebecca until the latter's death, but Gerda's also an accomplice in covering up Blunt's bigamy which would have ruined his fortune and career, which resulted in the three murders Poirot investigates. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_cc981c6 | comment |
The male voice in "Don't You Want Me Baby?" from The Human League's album Dare seems to think that the female used him as a stepping stone. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_d3667d2f | comment |
All three of the wives in The First Wives Club suffer this fate. The movie begins with their mutual friend dying of suicide because her husband, whom she helped make rich, leaves her for a much younger woman, leading to them seeking revenge against their ex-husbands and against their friend's husband in turn. | |
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| Stepping Stone Spouse / int_f6530c73 | comment |
Waiting to Exhale: Despite being highly talented and educated, Bernadine puts aside her career goals and her dreams of raising a family with her husband John in order to do everything she can to help him build his company. For eleven years, Bernadine does menial labor tasks to support the fledgling company, only for John to turn around and leave her for another woman once his company is profitable and it's his turn to support her start-up venture. Bernadine is pissed at this betrayal, and her subsequent burning of his car and a good amount of his expensive wardrobe in revenge sets up a contentious divorce battle between the two of them. | |
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Acrimony: Melinda and Robert marry fresh out of college. They spend nearly eighteen years struggling as Robert tries to get his battery invention off the ground. When Melinda suspects that Robert is cheating on her with Diana, she divorces him only for Robert's invention to be picked up shortly after. Robert and Diana living the luxurious lives of multimillionaires sends Melinda on a Sanity Slippage that results in her attempting to kill the new couple. | |
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| Stepping Stone Spouse | processingCategory2 |
Dysfunctional Family Index | |
| Stepping Stone Spouse | processingCategory2 |
Family Tropes | |
| Stepping Stone Spouse | processingCategory2 |
Marriage Tropes | |
| Stepping Stone Spouse | processingCategory2 |
The Ex Index | |
| Diary of a Mad Black Woman / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| She-Devil / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| The First Wives Club / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| The Wolf of Wall Street / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| One, Two, Buckle My Shoe / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| Waiting to Exhale / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| Dirty John / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse | |
| Reba / int_7d889c37 | type |
Stepping Stone Spouse |
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